Re: [existlist] Consciousness is not supported by itself

Ok ... if I don’t see it, perhaps you do. What in the SparkNotes or even in the quote of Sartre you provided explains how consciousness is what allows the

Message 1 of 171
, Jun 27, 2013

Ok ... if I don’t see it, perhaps you do. What in the SparkNotes or even in the quote of Sartre you provided explains how consciousness is what allows the world to exist. Or you could try your own explanation without resorting to quotes.

My point is that some philosophical statements get lost in their words and if the author would take a bit of time to express things in simple English, the statements would be better understood. I am sure that SparkNotes has a good idea in there somewhere, but they are not even trying to communicate. This one is a good example.

So I would ask, how is it possible for the world to not exist without consciousness?? Obviously the “consciousness” is a personal human consciousness. What the statement is saying is that if I am not aware of the outside world [perhaps I am dead] the world [I presume universe] would not exist. Yesterday I was alive and the this universe of some 95 billion light years diameter existed. Today I am dead and the whole thing disappears.

Which sort of raises an associated question of why it will disappear when hermit crab may not also be dead.

But you don't see it. If you read the sentences which precede and follow the SparkNotes statement which troubles you and which clarify what appears to be ridiculous, then the statement wouldn't mean what you think it means. What Sartre himself wrote is:

"Consciousness is consciousness of something. This means that transcendence is the constitutive structure of consciousness; that is, that consciousness is born *supported by* a being which is not itself."

It seems to me that we are limited to the qualities and capacities of humanness as supplied by the natural state of being human. Other than that, I personally

Message 171 of 171
, Aug 25, 2013

It seems to me that we are limited to the qualities and capacities of humanness as supplied by the natural state of being human. Other than that, I personally cannot conceive of a fixed nature or essence.

--- In existlist@yahoogroups.com, "Mary" <josephson45r@...> wrote:
>
> No congratulations from Sartre unless I understand how I am being in-itself and being for-itself. Since I'm sufficiently satisfied with my grasp of Sartre's Bad Faith, I'm now going to spend some time with how Sartre explains what he considers the 'correct' view of in-itself for being human. What for Sartre is fixed as human essence other than existence, nothing, and freedom?
>
> Mary
>
> --- In existlist@yahoogroups.com, eduardathome <yeoman@> wrote:
>
> > Sartre could encounter the waiter whilst serving the table and ask "what are
> > you??"
> >
> > "I'm a waiter"
> >
> > "Aha ... and obvious case of mauvais foi". "But, what are you besides a
> > waiter??"
> >
> > "I'm a father of a family"
> >
> > "Still mauvais foi ... a sad case". "I mean, underneath, besides these
> > particular roles??"
> >
> > "Of course, I am a human being".
> >
> > "Congratulations".
> >
> > eduard
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mary
> > Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 10:28 AM
> > To: existlist@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [existlist] Fixed nature
> >
> > We reject labels which identify us as essentially one particular thing. I am
> > not my job, so whichever occupation I choose or find myself in and
> > regardless of the education and training it requires, I am still not that
> > position/role/job in-itself. It is this idea of having a fixed nature, a
> > something in-itself, which Sartre opposes. We are being for-itself and
> > either struggle or recoil at the thought of having the freedom of not having
> > an identity (an in-itself) so we find ourselves in the 'project' or
> > condition of bad faith. Sartre thinks our nature is to desire a fixed
> > nature. But this is further complicated by the fact that others tend to
> > label us as having a fixed nature.
> >
> > If I say you, eduard, are essentially a positivist or a reductionist or
> > whatever, you reject this because you feel you are not that. If I say you
> > are an electrical engineer, you're more likely to say this is true, but are
> > you really only or strictly what your job entails? Aren't you first eduard,
> > a human being who thinks and does many things besides his job? Aren't your
> > ideas and ways of being constantly changing? To say that you perform your
> > job/role as an electrical engineer means you are not strictly that block of
> > identity. Even if you were to change careers, you wouldn't strictly be that
> > new identity either. You would be free to be more than just that. Sartre
> > means that all jobs are equal only in the sense that we still would not be
> > identified strictly with what we do.
> >
> > To say I am not *that* means I am not merely a being in-itself. But it's
> > more complicated, because if there weren't some facticity about being human,
> > we wouldn't be able to negate it and be a being for-itself. We would merely
> > be this block of identity. This is really what Sartre uses bad faith to
> > explainâ"the relationship between being in-itself and for-itself.
> >
> > Mary
> >
> > --- In existlist@yahoogroups.com, eduardathome <yeoman@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Mary,
> > >
> > > I think that part of the difficulty may be that we are dealing with
> > > 1930Ã¢â¬â¢s thought. The way I see it, Sartre is describing psychology as to
> > > mental functioning and associated behaviour. But in the 1930Ã¢â¬â¢s there
> > > was very little in the way of realising that we actually used our brains
> > > to think, so Sartre and others had to resort to labels and phraseology
> > > which might suffice.
> > >
> > > But since such phraseology is disconnected from reality, it easily leads
> > > to convoluted statements such as, "If I am a cafe waiter, this can be only
> > > in the mode of *not being* one." That statement makes no sense, and I
> > > can well appreciate the need for 800 pages of reading to obtain some kind
> > > of understanding. I donÃ¢â¬â¢t believe that such a statement would be made
> > > by anyone today in the 21st century.
> > >
> > > I read the paragraph at least 4 times now and still cannot make any sense
> > > of it. For example, Ã¢â¬Å"This is the result of the fact that while I must
> > > *play at being* a cafe waiter in order to be one, still it would be in
> > > vain for me to play at being a diplomat or a sailor, for I would not be
> > > oneÃ¢â¬Â. I think that what Sartre is saying is that a Ã¢â¬Å"diplomatÃ¢â¬Â is a
> > > position that requires substantial training and something to which you are
> > > assigned. You canÃ¢â¬â¢t just walk into the Ministry of State building and
> > > start acting like a diplomat as one might act as a waiter when walking
> > > into a restaurant. But if that is the case, then Sartre weakens his
> > > argument for mauvais foi, since the diplomat could equally confuse himself
> > > with his role.
> > >
> > > I agree with your understanding of bad faith. I asked at the office, what
> > > was the meaning of Ã¢â¬Å"mauvais foiÃ¢â¬Â. It comes down to misrepresenting
> > > yourself to others, as for example to have a hidden agenda. Sartre seems
> > > to be using the term as misrepresenting yourself to yourself. In regard
> > > to the question of whether it is possible to misrepresent yourself to
> > > yourself, I should think that it is entirely possible. There is nothing
> > > in the rule book of brain thinking that one has to be entirely logical and
> > > transparent.
> > >
> > > I think the example of the waiter is put in the wrong sense which
> > > compounds the difficulty. The waiter is said to be too precise and
> > > therefore he/she has mauvais foi. But it really should be expressed the
> > > other way around, as waiters who have mauvais foi tend to act in too
> > > precise a manner. Not all waiters who act precisely have mauvais foi.
> > > Neither do all beau parleurs.
> > >
> > > eduard
> >
>

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